258 
LESSER RED-POLL. 
feet of them, as they were busily engaged in picking the seeds 
of some garden plants, we can with confidence assert that they 
all had the red patch on the crown; but there were very few 
which had the red rump and breast; the young males, it is pro- 
bable, are not thus marked until the spring; and the females are 
destitute of that ornament altogether. 
The Lesser Red-poll is five' inches and a quarter in length, 
and eight inches and a half in breadth; the bill is pale yellow, 
ridged above and below with dai’k horn colour, the upper man- 
dible projecting somewhat over the lower at the tip; irides dark 
hazel ; the nostrils are covered with recumbent, hair-like fea- 
thers of drab colour; a line of brown extends from the eyes, and 
encircles the base of the bill, forming in some specimens a 
patch below the chin; the crown is ornamented with a pretty 
large spot of deep shining crimson; the throat, breast and rump, 
stained with the same, but of a more delicate red; the belly is 
of a very pale ash, or dull white; the sides are streaked with 
dusky; the whole upper parts are brown or dusky, the plumage 
edged with yellowish white and pale ash, the latter most predo- 
minant near the rump; wings and tail dusky, the latter is forked, 
and consists of twelve feathers edged with white; the primaries 
are very slightly tipped and edged with white; the secondaries 
more so; the greater and lesser coverts are also tipped with 
white, forming the bars across the wings; thighs cinereous; legs 
and feet black; hind claw considerably hooked, and longer than 
the rest. 
The female is less bright in her plumage above; and her un- 
der parts incline more to an ash colour; the spot on her crown 
is of a golden crimson, or reddish saffron. 
One male specimen was considerably larger than the rest; it 
measured five inches and three quarters in length, and nine 
inches and a quarter in breadth; the breast and rump were 
tawny; its claws were uncommonly long, the hind one mea- 
sured nearly three-eighths of an inch; and the spot on the crown 
was of a darker hue than that of the rest. 
